Kurzweil K2500 Series Keyboards

January 18, 1996 -- Kurzweil Music Systems has recently released the first of its new K2500 "Production Station" Series, the rack-mounting K2500R. The K2500 Series is Kurzweil's most powerful generation of sampling synthesizers utilizing their powerful V.A.S.T. architecture. Now the company is introducing two additions to the series - the K2500 76-note and K2500X 88-note keyboards.

The K2500 features a 76-note semi-weighted piano-style keyboard and the K2500X features an 88-note fully-weighted piano-action keyboard. Both instruments offer an exceptional range of controller functions, expanded from those of the critically-acclaimed Kurzweil PC88 Performance Controller. The front panel includes eight control sliders and eleven buttons, plus three dedicated sequencer transport buttons. There are also two ribbon controllers. The small ribbon is pressure and direction sensitive and resides below the pitch and mod wheels. Above the wheels are two self-illuminating buttons which are fully programmable. The long ribbon, which resides between the keyboard and the control panel, is programmable in three zones and responds to changes in the player's finger position. Both of these ribbon controllers add tremendous expressiveness to the K2500's performance.

All K2500 Series instruments feature true 48-note polyphony; a large illuminated 64 x 240 front-panel display; 60 internal DSP functions arranged in 31 algorithms; up to 28MB of internal ROM sounds; sample RAM expansion to 128 MB; program memory expansion to 1,256 KB; dual industry-standard SCSI ports; and a wide range of interfacing options, including digital connection to popular modular digital multitrack recorders. Also featured are a full-function 32-track sequencer and a hierarchical file directory system for powerful file management. Flash ROM enables K2500 system software to be easily updated from floppy disk or via SCSI, eliminating the need for professional servicing to upgrade your software.

The K2500 boasts an impressive new 8MB on-board soundset with 200 programs and 100 setups - additional disks are supplied containing 1500 more programs and extra support. K2000 owners will be happy to know that their entire sound libraries are compatible with the K2500 Series. Optional Contemporary and Orchestral ROM SoundBlocks for the K2500, each adding 8MB of sounds, will also be offered. A new 4MB Stereo Grand Piano SoundBlock offers the most realistic stereo piano sound Kurzweil has ever created. The rear panel includes four footswitch jacks, two continuous controller jacks and a breath controller jack.

The rear panel also includes two SCSI connectors, a pair of mixed audio outs, eight separate audio outs, stereo headphone out, and MIDI In, Out and Thru, (Thru jack switchable to a copy of MIDI Out).

The K2500 Series has a broad upgrade path which includes the SMP-2 Sampling Option, KDFX (Digital Effects Option) and DMTi (Digital Multitrack Interface). The sampling option provides digital I/O including AES/EBU and S/PDIF optical plus sample-while-play, which allows sampling while continuing other operations or sampling sequences. The KDFX option incorporates Kurzweil's powerful new effects VLSI design and provides four stereo buses with full bandwidth and flexible signal routing. The DMTi provides data format conversion and real-time sample rate conversion between K2500, AES/EBU, Alesis ADAT , Tascam DA-88 and S/PDIF optical formats at any number of selectable sample rates. The DMTi also performs valuable stand-alone functions, such as converting ADAT digital data to DA-88 format, and vice versa (two DMTi's are required for this function).

K2500 provides battery back-up for program and set-up data. Disk storage consists of a single 1.44 MB 3.5 in drive. There is provision for the internal installation of a SCSI drive of up to 1.2 GB.

For more information on the K2500 Series and other Kurzweil products, contact Kurzweil Music Systems, 13336 Alondra Blvd., CA 90703. Tel: 310/926-3200; Fax: 310/404-0748. Visit their web site at www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com.